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Tsunami Relief
Proving again that no good deed goes unpunished...typical.
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| Guest Column: No Relief in Sight for the Lincoln By Ed Stanton It has been three weeks since my ship, the USS Abraham Lincoln, arrived off the Sumatran coast to aid the hundreds of thousands of victims of the Dec. 26 tsunami that ravaged their coastline. I'd like to say that this has been a rewarding experience for us, but it has not: Instead, it has been a frustrating and needlessly dangerous exercise made even more difficult by the Indonesian government and a traveling circus of so-called aid workers who have invaded our spaces. What really irritated me was a scene I witnessed in the Lincoln's wardroom a few days ago. I went in for breakfast as I usually do, expecting to see the usual crowd of ship's company officers in khakis and air wing aviators in flight suits, drinking coffee and exchanging rumors about when our ongoing humanitarian mission in Sumatra is going to end. What I saw instead was a mob of civilians sitting around like they owned the place. They wore various colored vests with logos on the back including Save The Children, World Health Organization and the dreaded baby blue vest of the United Nations. Mixed in with this crowd were a bunch of reporters, cameramen and Indonesian military officers in uniform. They all carried cameras, sunglasses and fanny packs like tourists on their way to Disneyland. My warship had been transformed into a floating hotel for a bunch of trifling do-gooders overnight. As I went through the breakfast line, I overheard one of the U.N. strap-hangers, a longhaired guy with a beard, make a sarcastic comment to one of our food servers. He said something along the lines of "Nice china, really makes me feel special," in reference to the fact that we were eating off of paper plates that day. It was all I could do to keep from jerking him off his feet and choking him, because I knew that the reason we were eating off paper plates was to save dishwashing water so that we would have more water to send ashore and save lives. That plus the fact that he had no business being there in the first place. My attitude towards these unwanted no-loads grew steadily worse that day as I learned more from one of our junior officers who was assigned to escort a group of them. It turns out that they had come to Indonesia to "assess the damage" from the Dec. 26 tsunami. Well, they could have turned on any TV in the world and seen that the damage was total devastation. When they got to Sumatra with no plan, no logistics support and no five-star hotels to stay in, they threw themselves on the mercy of the U.S. Navy, which, unfortunately, took them in. I guess our senior brass was hoping for some good PR since this was about the time that the U.N. was calling the United States "stingy" with our relief donations. As a result of having to host these people, our severely over-tasked SH-60 Seahawk helos, which were carrying tons of food and water every day to the most inaccessible places in and around Banda Aceh, are now used in great part to ferry these "relief workers" from place to place every day and bring them back to their guest bedrooms on the Lincoln at night. Despite their avowed dedication to helping the victims, these relief workers will not spend the night in-country, and have made us their guardians by default. When our wardroom treasurer approached the leader of the relief group and asked him who was paying the mess bill for all the meals they ate, the fellow replied, "We aren't paying, you can try to bill the U.N. if you want to." In addition to the relief workers, we routinely get tasked with hauling around reporters and various low-level "VIPs," which further wastes valuable helo lift that could be used to carry supplies. We had to dedicate two helos and a C-2 cargo plane for America-hater Dan Rather and his entourage of door holders and briefcase carriers from CBS News. Another camera crew was from MTV. I doubt if we'll get any good PR from them, since the cable channel is banned in Muslim countries. We also had to dedicate a helo and crew to fly around the vice mayor of Phoenix, Ariz., one day. Everyone wants in on the action. As for the Indonesian officers, while their job is apparently to encourage our leaving as soon as possible, all they seem to do in the meantime is smoke cigarettes. They want our money and our help but they don't want their population to see that Americans are doing far more for them in two weeks than their own government has ever done or will ever do for them. To add a kick in the face to the USA and the Lincoln, the Indonesian government announced it would not allow us to use their airspace for routine training and flight proficiency operations while we are saving the lives of their people, some of whom are wearing Osama bin Ladin T-shirts as they grab at our food and water. The ship has to steam out into international waters to launch and recover jets, which makes our helos have to fly longer distances and burn more fuel. What is even worse than trying to help people who totally reject everything we stand for is that our combat readiness has suffered for it. An aircraft carrier is an instrument of national policy and the big stick she carries is her air wing. An air wing has a set of very demanding skills and they are highly perishable. We train hard every day at sea to conduct actual air strikes, air defense, maritime surveillance, close air support and many other missions - not to mention taking off and landing on a ship at sea. Our safety regulations state that if a pilot does not get a night carrier landing every seven days, he has to be re-qualified to land on the ship. Today we have pilots who have now been over 25 days without a trap due to being unable to use Indonesian airspace to train. Normally it is when we are at sea that our readiness is at its very peak. Thanks to the Indonesian government, we have to waive our own safety rules just to get our pilots off the deck. In other words, the longer we stay here helping these people, the more dangerous it gets for us to operate. We have already lost one helicopter, which crashed in Banda Aceh while taking sailors ashore to unload supplies from the C-130s. There were no relief workers on that one. I'm all for helping the less fortunate, but it is time to give this mission to somebody other than the U.S. Navy. Our ship was supposed to be home on Feb. 3 and now we have no idea how long we will be here. American taxpayers are spending millions per day to keep this ship at sea and getting no training value out of it. As a result, we will come home in a lower state of readiness than when we left due to the lack of flying while supporting the tsunami relief effort. I hope we get some good PR in the Muslim world out of it. After all, this is Americans saving the lives of Muslims. I have my doubts. Ed Stanton is the pen name of a career U.S. Navy officer currently serving with the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group. Send Feedback responses to [email protected]. |
Re: Tsunami Relief
That's right, screw everybody! Screw those heathen relief workers, and screw those stupid, thankless Indonesian Muslims! Fuck 'em all! Talk about money going down the drain!
We need faith-based proselytizers in there doin' God's work! We need conversion to Christianity! No one else need apply! We need folks like these:
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| A Virginia-based missionary group said this week that it has airlifted 300 "tsunami orphans" from the Muslim province of Banda Aceh to Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, where it plans to raise them in a Christian children's home. The missionary group, WorldHelp, is one of dozens of Christian, Muslim and Jewish charities providing humanitarian relief to victims of the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami that devastated countries around the Indian Ocean, taking more than 150,000 lives.... "Normally, Banda Aceh is closed to foreigners and closed to the gospel. But, because of this catastrophe, our partners there are earning the right to be heard and providing entrance for the gospel," WorldHelp said in an appeal for funds on its Web site this week. The appeal said WorldHelp was working with native-born Christians in Indonesia who want to "plant Christian principles as early as possible" in the 300 Muslim children, all younger than 12, who lost their parents in the tsunami. "These children are homeless, destitute, traumatized, orphaned, with nowhere to go, nowhere to sleep and nothing to eat. If we can place them in a Christian children's home, their faith in Christ could become the foothold to reach the Aceh people," it said. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/artic...&type=printable |
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| Most American groups, including those affiliated with religious organizations, strictly avoid mixing aid and missionary work. But scattered reports of proselytizing in Sri Lanka; Indonesia, which is predominantly Muslim; and India, with large Hindu and Muslim populations, are arousing concerns that the good will spread by the American relief efforts may be undermined by resentment. The Rev. Sarangika Fernando, a local Methodist minister, witnessed one of the prayer sessions in Sri Lanka and accused the Americans of acting unethically with traumatized people. "They said, 'In the name of Jesus, she must be cured!' " he said. "As a priest, I was really upset." |
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| The Americans in Sri Lanka belong to the Antioch Community Church, an evangelical church based in Waco, Tex. Two members of the church were arrested, and accused of proselytizing, by the Taliban in Afghanistan in August 2001. When the United States invaded the country several months later, pro-American Northern Alliance forces freed the women, who church officials say did speak with Afghans about their personal "relationship with Jesus." |
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| Jan. 18 posting from the team in Indonesia says the country's devastated Aceh Province is "ripe for Jesus!!" |
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| "What an opportunity," it adds. "It has been closed for five years, and the missionaries in Indonesia consider it the most militant and difficult place for ministry. The door is wide open and the people are hungry." |
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| Ron Godwin, president of Jerry Falwell Ministries, confirmed that the Liberty Foundation was organizing a shipment of rice, medication and Scriptural excerpts, but said the primary goal of the effort was relief, not proselytizing. "Everything we do is in the name of Christ," he said. "But we try to be sensitive in areas where it may be politically sensitive, and we have no litmus test for those we give rice to." |
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| "They told me to always think about God and about Jesus and you will be healed," he said. "Whenever I ask for help they always mention God, but they do not give any money for treatment." |
Say Jesus again. Jeeeeeeeeezzzus!
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| Originally posted by Shakka Say Jesus again. Jeeeeeeeeezzzus! |
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| Originally posted by MisterOpus1 Hehe, sorry. Every now and then that Southern Babtist side of my family comes out and takes over. The Methodist side then comes along to sooth the spiritual revival. Then the agnostic side comes along and makes fun of them both. Quite the internal conflict. Sorry to get you caught in the middle. |
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| Originally posted by Shakka Edit: Btw, my original post was more in defense of the military and their relief efforts. I could care less about pushing religion on a group of people that already have too much religion in their lives. |
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| Originally posted by MisterOpus1 This piece, though a bit of a personal perspective on the matter, I think really shouldn't be a reflection on the relief effort as a whole. Granted, I can understand his complaints on time spent and personality/attitudes of the relief workers, as well as the victims. It really comes across as a bitch/moan piece aimed at bureaucratic dweebs or whiny civilians. Does he have a legitimate complaint on that matter? Probably, but then again he should know that it comes with the territory in these type of disaster relief matters. |
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| I guess my point was aimed more towards his last part - the unappreciative victims. I realize that this Muslim nation is pretty untrustworthy of our efforts, of our military's efforts, but that's something he must come to grips with. I think his anger or frustration, which seemingly is spilling over towards the people, should be a bit quelled as he should again realize that it just comes with the terroritory of his job in a rather hostile nation. |
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I mean you really only need to replace "tsunami" with "overthrown regime", and "Indonesia" with "Iraq", and you could really see similar sentiments with our soldiers and the people in Iraq. Most want us the hell out - even though idealistically we are really trying to help them. |
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I don't want to take away from the dangers posed on this officer or any officer/soldier giving assistance, for that matter. But it just comes across a bit misplaced, to me, to depict the situation almost as if it's kinda better off if we just said, "Fuck 'em". It's his duty to do what he does. If he's describing the difficulties of his job, that's fine and I fully commend him for that. But it seems almost that it's coming across a bit more than just a mere description of his difficult tasks at hand. And for that, I think is a bit misplaced. |
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Added in Edit I look at what I wrote and it seems more an more like an asshole statement. I really didn't mean to come across this way or disrespect our military's effort and role in the matter. Again I want to stress my upmost respect and admiration for their life-threatening duties. But as I mentioned, it seems this author is reaching a bit more than just a personal daring account, and is wanting more of a political statement or reaction here. To that I think it's a bit misplaced. I hope I clarified myself better. |
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| Originally posted by EvilTree Perhaps those aid workers should have come more prepared, eh? PPPPPP: Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance |
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| Riiiiiight. If I was doing a good deed helping out someone and that someone gets pissed off at me, or worse, prevent me from doing the good deed properly, yeah, I'd be annoyed. |
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| it seems this author is reaching a bit more than just a personal daring account, and is wanting more of a political statement or reaction here. To that I think it's a bit misplaced. |
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| WTF are you taking about? Perhaps the Yanks should just stay the heck out of Indonesia? (And get the scorn for not helping out?) Where did you get the idea that US would do anything like overthrowing Indonesian regime? |
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| Perhaps you're right. Or perhaps he's just frustrated at the level of cooperation and BS he has to deal with. |
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| Hey, instead of a 'thank you', the Yanks are getting 'get the fuck out of here. Oh, leave us the money, btw'. I think he's justified in little article. |
^I apologize if it seemed like I was jumping all over you.
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| Originally posted by MisterOpus1 If there is a political message of sorts to be said, only THEN would I disagree with a statement being made. If we need to discuss the "whys" on this further, I will, but I think reasons of military duty, humanitarian duty, and even a dash of political duty (i.e. making the U.S. "look" good offering assistance even when it's unwanted) tend to speak for themselves. Again I don't take his feelings away from him. He has every reason to feel that way and express them as well. I just question whether it's appropriate to expound further in a political statement possibly being made. Or let me clarify further - he may not necessarily be making a political statement. But it may be subject to interpretation in becoming so - this is what I think we need to be careful on. |
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